unstoppable! why traders say this market has staying power. in today's cover story, investors push for better working conditions worlds away from wall street. plus, risky business: the questionable practices of mortgage lenders are back. and, why google could soon have you conversing with your computer. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's monday, may 20th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: united's dreamliner takes off today with a flight from houston to chicago - the first since the 787s were grounded in

january because of overheating batteries. yahoo is expected to try and up its cool factor by revealing plans at a new conference today, reportedly to buy out social media site tumblr. and stocks reach for the stars. a record close for the dow and s&p locked in 4 straight weeks of gains. gold remains under pressure, falling $31 friday. oil added 84 cents. scott bauer of trading advantage joins us on the show on this monday morning. scott, stocks are on steroids. where will it end? - it is unbelievable, especially with the ending we saw on friday. we came out of the gate friday up a little bit, and then, literally, angie, this was the classic melt-up all day long. and, really, the end is nowhere in sight. i am not saying that it is straight up, but really, between the fed, between the really good economic reports coming out, like we saw in the consumer sentiment report last friday - unbelievable. so what is going

to stop this market? probably nothing in the near term. - you know what else is soaring? united's dreamliners. what about boeing stock? is that set to take off? - you know what's unbelievable? you look at this stock, and over the last three, four months, ever since the big problem with the dreamliner, that stock really didn't get hit. right? it traded in the low $70s, really didn't get hit much as people thought it was going to, and now we're trading near $100. now, i don't see the continued strength like we've seen over the last three months, but there's no reason to short this stock, either. - gm stock is also having a good ride. what does that tell you about the economy and the chart? how does the chart look to you? - the chart looks very, very bullish. the economy is, i believe, what is really propelling a stock like gm. i mean, people are out there, they are selling cars, right? people can finance, they can get loans, they can finance cars now at unbelievably ridiculously low rates just like they can other things out there, and they are making good product. gm is making really good product. they are back almost like in their prime, and they are in this bullish channel. - let's keep in mind the government is making money on this deal as well.

- they came out pretty well on that. - good old government motors. good to have you on the show this morning. that is scott bauer of trading advantage. have a good trading day. - you too, angie. in our cover story, more pressure on overseas factories such as the bangladesh clothing plant that collapsed, killing more than a thousand workers last month. investor groups are joining forces to raise safety standards. it pits the sovereignty of countries against the lure of global trade. in bangladesh, five deadly incidents in garment factories since november, including more than a thousand workers killed in the collapse of one sub- standard plant, are behind the push for improved worker safety. "it's an up-hill battle, but it

needs to be addressed." jung lowe, who specializes in international business law, says it's succeeded before - at apple's assembly plant in china, foxconn. "the political pressure became so great that the private company changed its policy." but professionals at an international trade conference in chicago aren't sure if the latest push - a coalition of institutional investors and religious groups - can change what happens in a sovereign country. "will it be effective? it's an evolving process." "american companies cannot influence directly. they cannot demand of a country that you keep buildings up to par." but there can be contractual pressure. "you want to do business with us? you have to make sure that you comply." that's the argument behind a safety plan endorsed by abercrombie and fitch and pvh,

parent company of tommy hilfiger and calvin klein. and representatives from other countries are taking note. "this situation that happened in a neighboring country is a lesson for us." the list of investor and religious groups calling for other retailers to demand change includes state retirement funds in california, new york, illinois, and connecticut, as well as the teamsters. collectively, they control nearly $2.5 trillion in assets. the garment industry tripled in bangladesh from 2000 to 2010. there are now 5,000 garment factories there. the drama continues over the irs scandal. former irs commissioner douglas shulman is set to testify wednesday. he left the agency in 2012. friday, steven miller, who recently resigned as the acting irs commissioner, faced the heat on the hill at a congressional committee hearing. "congress, this committee messed up by not giving any clear criteria for what a real charitable organization is. ryan: how was that not misleading this committee? you knew the targeting was taking place. you knew the terms 'tea party,' 'patriots' were being used. you just acknowledged a minute ago that they were

outrageous. and then when you were asked about this, after you were briefed about this, that was the answer you gave us? how can we not conclude that you misled this committee? miller: "sir, that was a lot of questions, sir." ryan: "it's one. how can we conclude that you did not mislead this committee?" miller: "i did not mislead the committee. i stand by my answer then. i stand by my answer now. harassment, discussion that was part of that question, implies political motivation. there is a discussion going on. there is no political motivation." miller adds he does not believe partisanship motivated the action that lead to targeting of conservative groups, rather, "foolish mistakes." apple ceo tim cook is heading to congress to speak out against corporate taxes. cook testifies this week to overhaul the tax code and bring corporate tax earnings overseas back to the u.s. some large companies say u.s. tax rates are too high, so they move profits overseas to reduce tax bills. cook says the rate should be more reasonable. more than 1,000 u.s. companies - including apple - have about $1.7 billion in other countries, according to a report by jp morgan. cook wants that money to go toward u.s. job creation, research and development.

also on the agenda in dc this week, the house is expected to vote on a bill allowing construction of the northern section of the keystone pipeline. republicans believe it will create jobs. the bill overrides the need for a presidential permit according to thehill.com. president obama stands opposed to the keystone xl pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from canada to the gulf, because it could harm the enviroment. on friday, the president told a crowd at an equipment company in baltimore he's using a "presidential memorandum" to cut through red tape for his infrastructure projects. "i want to put people back to work improving our roads, our bridges, our airports." the president says he will continue to try to work with both parties to get progress out of congress. relaxed rules on fracking are causing a bigger divide between the obama administration and environmental groups. the u.s. department of the interior wants to lessen some requirements on companies

drilling for oil and gas. the new rules allow companies to use more than one method to ensure that a well is safe. they are now required to report the list of chemicals used, but not until after drilling. environmental groups say the weaker rules protect the industry, and not people. in europe, car sales appear to be turning a corner. new car registrations zipped up 1.7% in april compared to last year. it's the first sales increase for the european auto industry since 2011. the indusrty has been in a slump because of high unemployment, especially in greece and spain. major car companies including ford and gm posted a total loss of $7 billion last year. even though apartment living is on the rise, it just may be the "calm before the development storm." more apartment buildings will likely be in the works, according to a report by zellman & associates. currently, rising rents are pushing some tenants to move, but not as many as in past years. about 11.5% of renters left buildings because of rent increases in 2013. that's up from 10.9% in 2012, but a big drop from 17% in 2011. another busy week for ipos. this week, portola pharmaceuticals plans to raise $100 million. shares could price in between $13 to $16. also in the works, channeladvisor is

hoping to raise $87 million at $12-14 per share. the e-commerce software company tracks online sales of retailers such as amazon. on friday, tableau sofware opened at $31, well above its targeted range. stock shot up more than 60% to $50 after the open. samsung says it's on track for a record. the company expects sales of its galaxy s4 smartphone to hit 10 million units this week. the phone went on sale just last month. it could become the fastest selling smartphone in samsung's history. everyone has their eyes on google. the stock hit an all- time high last week during its developers conference. the company is rolling out a number of new products, including a music service and an updated android operating system. a google technologist tells us it is also revamping its search function with voice recognition technology. "soon you will be able to have a conversational search experience with your computer. what we previewed here at i/o is the ability to say, 'ok google,' talk to your computer, and get that information back simply by using your voice in a

natural, conversational way." meanwhile, some lawmakers are expressing privacy concerns over computer google eyewear. daniel sieberg tells us google glass is still a work in progress. bill gates is back on top. gates has regained the title of richest person in the world. his net worth is $72.2 billion. gates got knocked down from number one after mexican billionaire carlos slim helu took the top spot. a rise in microsoft shares, up 28% this year, places gates back at number one. a recent check-up shows foxconn factories are making progress. foxconn builds tech gadgets for apple and other tech companies. the taiwanese manufacturer is under investigation following reports of harsh labor practices. the fair labor association reports foxconn is making steady progress in

improving working conditions at a select group of factories in china where apple ipads and iphones are made. work hours have been reduced to 60 hours per week. the goal of 49 hours, however, has not been reached. target is booting up its own video streaming service. the retailer is taking on netflix and hulu by testing out an instant-watch service called "target ticket." 15,000 movies and tv shows are available. a trial run is starting with employees. still to come, ignoring the fine print: why mortgage companies are still up to old tricks. that's later. but first, why a price break could be ahead for drivers. that's next.

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temporary, and likely settle down following memorial day weekend. currently, the average gallon of unleaded is $3.62, down from $3.78 in february. the rise or fall of the economy remains hinged to prices at the pump. greg mcbride of bankrate.com is gauging prices for us. good to have you on the show as always, greg. prices are actually coming down right now at the gas pump. so what is happening with consumer spending? - interestingly enough angie, between late february and late april, we saw about a 30¢-per- gallon decline in gas prices, but people did not spend more money in other areas as a result. 80% of americans said they had not increased their discretionary spending following that drop in gas prices. only about one in six americans did so, and that's really the opposite of what happens when gas prices go up, and it's a real headwind to the economy. in years past, we have seen about 60% of americans cut back on their spending whenever those gas prices go up.

- did they explain why they're not spending more? - well, i think a lot of this is, if you think from the standpoint of, say, an investor, investors feel the pain of a loss much more than they feel the joy of a gain. i think from a gas price standpoint it is much the same thing. when gas prices are going up, we are bombarded by it: everywhere we go, every time we drive down the street, and every time we are filling up at the pump. but, the decline in gas prices, it just hasn't put enough extra money in people's pockets to where they are comfortable enough to go out and ramp up spending in other areas. - it is also surprising, greg, because people are buying smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. does that play into this as well? - that could be a role, but look, there are still plenty of large gas-guzzling suvs out there - the type of vehicles where people would see a noticeable impact should gasoline prices come down. the

other thing is, when we look at what time of year it is, i think people are sort of girding themselves for the inevitable increase that we tend to see during the summer season. they may view the recent decline as temporary. - the recent read from the michigan sentiment number is that consumers are feeling better about the economy. what are you finding at bankrate.com? - bankrate.com's financial security index continues to show that consumers are feeling better about their financial security compared to one year ago. for the third month in the row, we've got an upbeat rating. i think a lot of that traces back to what we are seeing not just with the economy, but in particular with the housing market and stock market. - do you think spending will follow? - that's really going to depend upon what people see in the paycheck. and unfortunately, paychecks have been pretty flat. people don't have the capacity to really ramp up spending, because the paycheck isn't going up, and if anything it's gone down since the beginning of the year because of the payroll tax

cut expiring. - greg, thanks as always for that update. - thanks angie. still ahead, the tricks some lenders are still using to scam homebuyers. stay with us.

more than 4 years since the housing crisis, and a new study shows most potential home buyers still don't understand the mortgage contracts they are signing. dr. jessica choplin, an associated professor at depaul university, joins us on set. good morning to you, and what do you attribute this problem to? is it the lenders not wanting to reveal the

information, or the consumer not bothering to read through the contract? - well, both of those, of course, are happening. but, in addition to that, there are various cognitive biases that affect what people look at, when and whether they even know to look at various things. one example is a confirmation bias, where people will, if they're told the initial interest rate, they will look over the form to confirm that that in fact is the interest rate, and they will completely skip the information that reveals that it is adjustable. so they won't be aware that it is an adjustable- rate loan. - that is a problem. that was definitely a problem during the financial crisis, where rates suddenly would go up because people didn't realize they had a variable rate and not a fixed rate. so, do you blame it on the lenders for trying to maybe hide information? - well, it's oftentimes the case that they're not completely forthcoming. but, even if someone is not purposefully being deceptive, people can still be deceived because of these various cognitive biases. so, what we advocate is some type of consumer counseling where they will be made aware of the various attributes of the loan, even if they themselves couldn't find it on the forms, or it

wasn't revealed to them by the lender or broker. - there were some changes made to some of these mortgage forms. are they better today than they were a few years ago? - yes, they are. we have studied both the new form and the old form, and people were much better with the new form, although there is a new form coming out yet, and that still needs to be investigated. but what we found was that that's not sufficient. in one experiment we ran, we talked to the participant as they were trying to review the form, and that made the biases much greater. so, that's one of the reasons why we think some type of consumer counseling is necessary to overcome that. - because as they were talking to them, they just lost track? they stopped reading? - well, they would still look to confirm that the interest rate was what they were told it was, but then they stopped and didn't find the adjustable information. - good to have you on the show this morning. that is dr. jessica choplin, of depaul university. thank you. - thank you. just ahead, following years of financial turbulance, why airline stocks are suddenly throttling up. chart talk is next.

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andrew keene, president of keeneonthemarket.com, has his eyes on the skies for us this morning. good morning to you andrew. happy monday. - good morning angie. - now you are watching the airline stocks. in particular, which ones are ready to take off? - pick any one, i think these stocks are all headed higher. they pulled back from the 52- week high. i am looking at lcc, luv, and ual. i have positions to the long side in lcc and luv. - traditionally the airlines move with the economy. is this an indication that the economy is getting better? - absolutely. everybody always has money invested in the stock

market - your 401(k), your ira, your long stocks. as the stock market goes higher, people's net worth goes higher, they want to travel more. that leisure travel means that people are traveling more, that means it's good for the airlines. we are also seeing a pullback in oil here. i looked at luv in particular - they raised their dividend. they are also having a nice stock buyback. i think this stock can go through $14.50. - really? what other price targets do you have? - lcc we have seen huge, unusual option activity on the oct. 20 line, so i am long the oct. 22 bull call spread. so i think that lcc can get north of $22 between now and october. ual, i am looking for a pullback down to $33.80, and then i am going to buy some call spreads in ual. the airlines in particular have been outperforming the stock market, and the chart looks so strong, i think all three of these are headed into the skies. - we'll see what happens. thank you very much. that is andrew keene, president of keeneonthemarket.com. on the up note, coming up tomorrow, an author will be here to explain why its so easy for million-dollar athletes to go bankrupt. and the money lessons we can all learn. from all of us at first business, have a great start to your week!

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